Beyond My Reach
by hopefulheart108
Summary: Twilight didn't think too much of it when the Cutie Map have send her and her friends to different locations in Equestria. All she wants to know is how will this work out together in the end when they meet these ponies.
1. Chapter 1

AN: _There will be small mentions of the events during the season 6 finale, so read with caution._

* * *

This was a strange mission from the cutie map. Twilight can admit that, though the princess thought it could be just nothing wrong with it at the same time. It was the first time the map did the mission like this.

On the map, all of their cutie marks appeared, which haven't happened ever since their very first mission. Though this time, their cutie marks are in three different locations in Equestria. Rarity's and Fluttershy's are floating over at Canterlot, Rainbow and Applejack are going to Manehattan, and Twilight and Pinkie will be staying at Ponyville. It was truly strange for the map to do this, but Twilight decided to still follow its instructions for the sake of somepony's friendship and how it will probably influence others.

 _I wonder what are the results of something like this. Will it work out separately or will it go all together in the end?_ Twilight wondered in her head, waving her friends goodbye as the train travel to their destinations.

"So, Twilight, should we just walk around until a friendship problem kur-blam us between the eyes?" Pinkie ask.

"Oh. Yeah, of course." Twilight said with a small shake of her head.

A smile appears on the alicorn's face as she said, "I'm sure this friendship problem will be easy."

 _Then again, they rarely are._ Twilight admitted to herself, as she and Pinkie head back to Ponyville, hoping her worries aren't true.

* * *

Manehattan was oddly familiar and yet unfamiliar to Rainbow Dash, though that's mostly because she haven't seen every single thing of the place, like she was pretty sure Rarity seen more or Manehattan than her.

"Hey, Applejack," Rainbow Dash said, as she fly close to the ground, feeling a bit weighted down by the saddle bags Twilight made them wear to be prepared. "When you were living here with your relatives, were you able to see at least most of the attractions?"

"Not exactly." Applejack said with a small frown. "Uncle and Aunt Orange were mostly trying to teach me how to be a true 'Manehattanite', though we still saw a few sites, but I'm pretty sure they might have changed since I was a filly."

Rainbow Dash let out a small hum, wondering when they're going to find this friendship problem. It might be one of the hardest thing to do in a city like this. Then again, if Applejack and Rarity have solved a friendship problem before, then Rainbow is sure that they'll be able to find one here easily. All she have to do is make sure her eyes are peeled for any kind of commotion that's happening around them.

When she felt some pony bump into her, Dash quickly turn towards the pony and was about to complain about it, but she was cut off once she saw a red pegasus getting her tail pulled down by a blue earth pony.

"Spice, give her back her stuff." The blue pony said, glaring at her red friend.

"Fine..." The red pegasus sighed, showing the book in her hoof, then gave it a toss to Rainbow Dash.

As Dash caught the book, Applejack ask, "Why would you steal a book from us?"

"Especially... 'The Tales of Pocket Mirror'?" Rainbow said, reading the title of the book. "Why would Twilight give us this?"

"I thought I could get some bits out of it," 'Spice' said.

The blue earth pony pulled on the red pony's tail once more and said, "And you do realize that you would get into big trouble. Again."

"Ow! Ow. I know, but I thought that she wouldn't notice." 'Spice' said, pulling her tail out of her grip.

"Yeah... Bumping into me wouldn't get me suspicious when there's tons of space out in the air." Rainbow said, sarcastically.

"I've done this before!"

"I told you time after time, and you don't listen to me!" The blue earth pony said to the red pegasus.

As the two argue between each other, Applejack whisper to Rainbow, "I think we've found our friendship problem."

"Maybe... Are you sure?" Rainbow ask.

"Definitely." The orange pony said, quite confident in this.

Rainbow Dash look at the two. She did realize that there's a pattern where that whenever they meet some ponies, they usually have a problem of some sort. These two must have at least one problem for them to solve.

"Hey. Hey. Hey." Rainbow Dash said, getting the attention of the blue and red ponies. "You two need to cool down, and got to tell us what's your problem."

The blue earth pony and the red pegasus raises an eyebrow in confusion. Looking at the blue pegasus, 'Spice' said, "We don't really have a problem. I mean... yeah, we argue a couple of times, but we always make it through."

"Are you sure?" Rainbow ask.

"Besides some annoyance, we're okay." The blue earth pony said with a small shrug. "We have a home, food, entertainment, and I got a job."

"And not Spice over here?" Applejack said, looking at the red pegasus.

"Apple Spices." The red pegasus corrected her.

The orange earth pony stayed silent for a moment, but soon said, "Still, it's unfair that... " Applejack look at the blue earth pony and ask, "What's your name?"

"Music Drop." The blue earth pony said.

"Right. It's unfair that Music Drop here have to do all the work." Applejack said. "Shouldn't Apple Spices here have a job too?"

"You think I haven't tried that before?" Apple Spices ask with a frown on her face.

"Well... You must have tried."

"Exactly, but the jobs here aren't... something I would like."

Rainbow Dash and Applejack look at each other for a moment, hoping they would think of something until Spice said, "Well, maybe it's not between me and Music here. Maybe it's between Music and... him."

A nervous, almost sickening look appear over Music Drop's face when Spices mentions 'him'. This have to a clue.

"Who's 'him'?" Rainbow Dash ask, crossing her front hooves in front of her chest. "You got to give us the details if you want us to solve this friendship problem."

"Spice, they're not involved in this." Music almost hissed at the red pegasus, glaring at her.

"But they are here to solve a 'friendship' problem. Although I'm not sure if you can call this a 'friendship' problem." Spices said, as the blue earth pony glared at her.

It clicked in their mind that there's something between Music Drop and this male pony.

"We don't want to involve ourselves if it's a little too personal for you." Applejack said, hoping this wouldn't go bad quickly.

Music Drop continue on looking at Spices with a glare as the red pegasus seems to be thinking, looking at the ground. Soon, Spices look at the two elements of harmony with a smile and said, "How about we all go to our house so we can privately talk? How about that?"

Their gaze shift to the blue earth pony, who's stop glaring at the red one. She looks hesitant about this, but Music Drop still said, "Sure."

Applejack and Rainbow Dash let out the breathe they didn't realize they were holding. As they follow the other earth-pegasus duo, Applejack didn't know why, but she felt a little sick.

* * *

Aw... The wonderful city of Canterlot. Rarity still love the sight of it even though she had plenty of 'negative' ponies and experiences that some pony would say that Canterlot isn't all that great, but the unicorn still made it through with those experiences and had a great time here.

Rarity look at Fluttershy as the two walk through the streets of the city, wondering who will they meet for the friendship problem. The white unicorn softly cough into her hoof to gain the yellow pegasus and said, "Is there anywhere you would like to go to, Fluttershy?"

"I'm not really sure." Fluttershy said. "You know Canterlot more than I do, so maybe you should pick the place."

The unicorn softly sigh with her blue eyes wondering around the stores for something interesting. There were plenty of clothing stores and cafes in the area they're in, but one caught her eye. She wasn't too sure why that cafe does, but maybe it's the fact that it's rather old-fashion cafe among the more modern-looking stores that made her want to go there.

It was simple and white with a white sign surrounded by a brown border above the door and the large window that says, _White Jasmine's_ _Teas and Sweets._ In the window display, it simple displays it's colorful candy in glass jars, desserts, and little tea packets in several different packaging.

"How about this little shop, Fluttershy?" Rarity said, which the yellow pegasus replied with a small nod.

The shop's inside was a bit more cramped than they would expected, but there was a somewhat homey feeling about it. Working at the cash register was a yellow unicorn mare with a pair of golden yellow eyes and blond hair in two curled pigtails with flower clips. They couldn't really see what her cutie mark is since the yellow mare was working behind the register.

"Hello, welcome to White Jasmine's Teas and Sweets." The mare said with a small bow. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

Fluttershy softly smiled and said, "Well, we were wondering if there's any trouble going around here, like maybe some friends arguing?"

The mare shook her head and said, "Not that I've heard of."

The yellow pegasus let out a sad sigh, but said to her, "Thank you for your help."

"Wait." Rarity suddenly said, taking a step closer to the yellow unicorn. "Do you have any issues?"

"Rarity!" Fluttershy said in a loud whisper. "That's not really nice to say."

Yet, the yellow unicorn shook her head once more, and said, "I don't really mind."

There was a surprised look on the pink-maned mare's face, but the yellow unicorn said, "Truth be told, I don't really have many friends and I do live alone, but I don't notice any issues between any of my friends."

Rarity and Fluttershy look at each other for a moment, then at the yellow mare. It seems that the mare is already knowing the process going their heads when she said, "I really don't have any issues. I have experienced similar situations before, so you two don't need to worry."

"Rarity, I don't think we should interfere any farther into her life. I'm pretty sure she isn't the one." Fluttershy told her friend.

"Alright, we'll look somewhere else." Rarity said. "I'm sorry if we were troubling you, Miss..."

"Tea Cake," The yellow unicorn said. "And it wasn't really any trouble at all."

Upon leaving the little store, Rarity said, "I thought it might be her."

"Don't worry, Rarity. I think we'll still be able to find a friendship problem here." Fluttershy said, hoping to reassure her friend about this situation.

* * *

"We shouldn't give up, Twilight." Pinkie said as the two went back to the castle.

"We're not giving up, Pinkie." The purple unicorn said. "Taking a small break, then go back to looking for the friendship problem."

 _I still can't believe that we still haven't found one, but at least it's nice to see the ponies are still happy with their friends._ Twilight thought with a small smile.

"Twilight!" Twilight stopped when she notice Spike running towards her, though it might be a good sign that he didn't look frantic.

"Spike, what's wrong?" The purple alicorn ask.

"Technically, nothing's wrong." Spike said, earning a confused look on Twilight's face. "It's more on the lines of... hiring someone."

The purple dragon show her a letter that the princess recognizes as Princess Celestia's. Lifting it up to her face, she was able to read it:

 _Dear Twilight Sparkle,_

 _While I believe that you and your friends could handle yourselves, especially with your actions in the past, it's the best that you could start a royal guard of your own. I've already send one guard in hopes that you would get comfortable with guards of your own and slowly grow your army as time past by. This guard is actually became one not too long ago, but she's quite skilled according to her mentors. Hopefully, you two could learn from each other._

 _From Princess Celestia._

Twilight stayed silent for a moment. Princess Celestia is right about having guards around the castle, and while the event with the Changelings lead to a great discovery and gave Starlight confidence in being a leader, there was a possibility that everything could had go wrong and Queen Chrysalis would had won. Maybe having some guards around could keep things safe here, though Twilight know some guards in the past aren't as reliable as most ponies would think. Still, the purple princess decided that maybe having a few guards around won't be that bad.

"Oooo... A new pony!" Pinkie Pie cheered, looking over Twilight's shoulder to read the letter. "We must get a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party ready for her. Let's meet her right now!"

Twilight just nodded as Spike lead the way to the throne room, and there she is. The guard that was suppose to be Twilight's.

The guard is a purple unicorn with a long, silky, black mane and a pair of purple eyes. On her flank was a cutie mark of what looked like a black archery bow and arrows with a bright red ribbon tying them together. What stood out the most to Twilight about this pony was the red ribbon hairband against all of those purple and black, though a nice contrast.

"Hello, Princess Twilight Sparkle." The pony said, bowing towards her, causing the alicorn to become a bit nervous. "My name is Time Guard, and it's great to be meet you."

"N-No!" Twilight said. "I mean, you don't have to do that. Please, just call me Twilight."

"Twilight..." The unicorn tested the name out on its own as she straighten up. "Alright, Twilight."

 _Good. You know each others' names, and you were able to get on normal name terms with your guard instead of titles._ Twilight thought to herself, feeling a bit proud while at the same time, feeling like she should make a list of achievements on how close they could be.

"My name is Pinkie Pie!" The pink earth pony said, hopping towards the new guard.

"One of Twilight's friends." Time simply stated, recognizing her. Twilight can't help, but to notice how... somewhat emotionless her new guard is.

"Yup!"

The purple unicorn turn her head towards the princess, and ask, "May I see my room?"

"O-Oh, yeah." The alicorn said. "Pinkie Pie, you can plan the party now."

"Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie said, hopping her way to the kitchen.

"Sorry that you have to take one of the guest rooms. This whole guard idea just came out of nowhere, so I wasn't really able to plan anything." Twilight said with a small, nervous smile on her face.

"It's okay." Time said.

Twilight watches as the unicorn put away her items, like a few notebooks in a practically empty bookshelf and a framed picture on the shelf high above the bed. The picture did caught the princess's eye.

It was a picture of four ponies. One of the ponies was a older earth pony mare with a white coat, a short, dull dark pink-purple mane, eyes of the same color, and her cutie mark was covered by the dark purple business suit. One pony is a older earth pony stallion with a dark blue coat, a short, brown mane, brown eyes, and a cutie mark of some gardening tools. There was an earth pony colt with a short, dull pink mane, brown eyes, and no cutie mark. Finally, there was Time Guard herself, though looking a bit younger with her mane in two braids and wearing glasses. She looks a little more expressive than how she is now because of the shy smiling look on the picture Time's face. It was actually surprising for Twilight that she was even able to recognize Time Guard like this since this purple unicorn didn't have a cutie mark yet.

"That was took a few years ago before I ever had any training." The purple unicorn said, noticing the princess was still staring at it.

"Oh, It's just that I notice that those ponies are-" Twilight was cut off when Time Guard said, "They're my family. Just in case you're wondering, I'm adopted."

Twilight stayed silent for a moment with how open her new guard suddenly is until Time ask, "What time would you like to discuss about the guard system around the castle?"

"I believe after dinner is finish, so after 7 o'clock. If that's okay." Twilight said, which Time Guard replied with a simple nod.

As Twilight slowly walk out of the new guard's room, Twilight thought, _What just happened? I mean, I know what happened. I suddenly got a new guard when I have to solve a friendship problem today. The fact that happened today... Is it just some big coincidence? Or do I have to learn more about my new guard to find out?_

"It wouldn't be that bad." Twilight said, walking back to the throne room.

* * *

AN: _I hope everyone enjoys this new story that I've been thinking and I've finally got enough time to publish it. Please tell me what you think about it._


	2. Chapter 2

Upon seeing their home, Applejack was surprised to see that their home was actually a music shop, or at least on top of a music shop. As she and Rainbow Dash sat on the couch, Rainbow said, "So, what's the friendship problem exactly?"

Apple Spices went to the kitchen while Music Drop sat across from them. Music look down at the coffee table and said, "I'm not sure if you can call this a 'friendship' problem, like what Spice said before, but I guess this is the only way."

There was a light blush on the blue earth pony's face as she continued, "I have a friend name Clef Note, and he's been in the hospital since he was pretty young."

Applejack felt like this was going to be hard already.

"Note was a music prodigy, but there was an accident that caused him to be unable to move one of his legs. He can still walk, but he's no longer able to play the violin ever again and that's what he wanted to do. Playing the violin is his special talent."

Rainbow Dash look at one of her wings, trying to imagine what it's like if she isn't to fly ever again.

"Since that incident, I've tried to make him feel better." Music look at one of the boxes on the cabinet. "I've been collecting rare vinyls of classical music, so we could enjoy them together, but last week..." The blue earth pony looks a bit shaken. "He lashed out since it just reminded him that he could never play the violin again and we haven't talked since."

There was a moment of silence between them as the orange mare felt like maybe they can't fix a problem like this with just some talking.

"I'm guessing the reason why you're not really sure if you can call this a 'friendship' problem is because you're in love with Clef Note, right?" Rainbow Dash bluntly said.

"Rainbow!" Applejack shouted at her pegasus friend's rudeness as Drop's blush brighten.

"Yes." Music said, looking at the ground. "Even after what we've been through, I can't find myself hating him."

"And I'm also guessing he doesn't return those feelings." The blue pegasus bluntly said once again.

Applejack just slap one of her hooves onto her forehead as Music sadly nod. From the kitchen, they could hear Spice shout, "You're really ripping the bandage off, aren't ya?"

"Who asked you?!" Rainbow shouted back, about to fly out of her seat, but the orange mare place her hoof on her friend's shoulder and said, "I don't think we'll be able to solve this problem, Music Note."

"Why not?" Rainbow said.

"...You basically just proven that this is more of an 'unrequited love' problem than a 'friendship' problem with two questions." Applejack said. "I'm not sure if the map would lead us here for that kind of problem, especially since that this problem is much more personal than what we usually try to solve."

"It have to be this problem. The first challenge we usually face is the problem the map sent us for."

"Well, it could be something else too. I mean, this is the first time the map sent us to a different location at the same time. It could mean that these problems are suppose to go together."

"Quick!" Do you have any friends from Canterlot? Ponyville?" Rainbow suddenly ask Music.

"No, but a friend of mine took a trip to Hoofington. Does that count?" Music said.

"What about you?" Rainbow shouted towards Spice.

Apple Spices stayed a bit quiet, looking through the cabinets for a snack, but finally said, "Music is my only friend, but I guess Willful Beauty is kind of my friend. You know, the type of friend you could only be friends with if she was a friend of your other friend."

Rainbow sighed and said, "I don't want to give up on something like this."

"I'm sorry, but I think we can't do that kind of problem." Applejack said, taking off her hat and holding it to her chest.

"It's okay." Music Drop said with a low smile. "I don't want to bother ponies with my personal problems."

"Well, sorry for troubling ya."

"It was nothing."

Once Rainbow Dash and Applejack left, Apple Spices came out of the kitchen with some apples. Tossing one to Music Drop, the red pegasus said, "Did you really believe that they could had solved your problem?"

"...Sort of." Music sighed. "I mean, maybe I was being a little too hopeful."

Apple Spices sat next to her, eating her apple. Music look at her own apple and said, "Do you think we should go there?"

"There?" Apple raised an eyebrow to her.

"Canterlot and Ponyville." Now the red pegasus was looking at her.

"Why? Just from what those ponies had said?"

"It's just... There might be a possibility that they're..." The blue pony seemed to stop herself, but quickly continue on. "Getting some train tickets shouldn't be too hard or too expensive, and I could ask my boss if I could have at least a week vacation."

"Just to check if they're there?"

Music Drop stayed silent for a moment until Apple Spices smiled and said, "Okay, let's go." The blue earth pony smiled back, then took a bite out of her apple.

* * *

When the sky began to darken, Rarity and Fluttershy were quite worry since they haven't found their friendship problem yet. The unicorn-pegasus duo did try their best to find it by looking for it in the shopping area, schools, and even in Canterlot Castle. Surprisingly, they couldn't find one that was made their cutie marks glowed.

"Rarity, what are we going to do now?" Fluttershy ask, quite worried.

The white unicorn let out a sigh, and said, "I think it's best that we go to a nice hotel and search for the problem in the morning."

Rarity almost felt bitter because this is the first time that they stay overnight for the problem instead of a couple of hours or so.

 _I hope I would be able to send a message to Sweetie Belle that this might take longer than I thought._ Rarity thought to herself.

"We better get going before it gets too dark out." Fluttershy said.

"Yes. We should." Rarity said. "Hopefully we don't bump into any brutes."

The two waited in front of a 'small' line of ponies to a hotel, and when I mean by small, I mean the line is long enough to be out the door.

"I still can't believe that we didn't found the friendship problem yet." Fluttershy said. "Do you think we somehow missed it?"

"I feel like Twilight would had send Princess Celestia a letter to tell us what's going on with the map." Rarity said.

"I guess you're right."

"Oh, it's you two." The two look at the source of the voice to see it was the yellow unicorn from before, Tea Cake.

"Oh, Miss Tea Cake, it's nice to see you again." Fluttershy said.

"Likewise." Tea Cake said with a smile. "Are you two trying to get a room in this hotel?"

"Yes, but as you can see, we might have to wait for quite a while for that to happen." Rarity said with a bit of annoyance in her voice.

"Then, would you like to stay at my place?"

The two ponies' eyes widen.

"N-No! W-We shouldn't really accept that offer." Fluttershy slightly shuddered. "I mean, we've barely met and we were kind of rude to you earlier."

"There's no harm in it. You two seem to be nice ponies anyway." Tea Cake said.

"Rarity, what should we do?" Fluttershy whisper to the white unicorn.

Rarity bit her lower lip, trying to think of the anwer to this. On one hoof, they would have to wait for at least hours to get a room at this hotel, and possibly be told that there's no more available room to check in. On the other hoof, they would be able to stay with this nice unicorn for the night and maybe only for one night.

"Miss Tea Cake, we'll accept your offer." Rarity said, which made the yellow pegasus nervously hitch her breathe.

The yellow unicorn smiled once again and said, "I'm glad that you agree. Follow me please."

Fluttershy and Rarity follow the yellow unicorn from behind as the yellow pegasus whisper towards the white unicorn, "Are you sure about this?"

"It's better than waiting around." Rarity whispered back.

"Did you found your problem yet?" Tea ask.

"No." Fluttershy quietly sighed.

"Oh, then I hope you find it soon."

The rest of the trip was in awkward silence until they reach one of the doors on an apartment complex's third floor.

"Here we are." Tea Cake said, unlocking and opening the door for the guests.

The apartment was almost something Raity expected from some pony who lives in Canterlot: Modern. Yet the difference from any snobby pony is that Tea Cake's home feels s little more homey instead of something from a furniture magazine.

"Would you like some tea? Maybe some cake?" The yellow unicorn ask, heding towards the kitchen.

"Yes, darling." Rarity said as she and Fluttershy sit on the white couch. "Fluttershy?"

The yellow pegasus seemed to be spacing out until she slightly shook her head and said, "Y-Yes, please."

"Fluttershy?" Rarity repeated, noticing the nervousness on her friend's face.

The white unicorn look at the direction Fluttershy was staring at, and Rarity felt herself holding her breathe.

Hanging on the wall were two white shotguns forming into an X. Rarity understands why Fluttershy looks a bit more nervous than before.

 _Is she a hunter?_ Rarity thought, looking around the living room. _She doesn't have anything like fur or... taxidermy._ Rarity could feel herself slight shiver at the thought alone.

"We have to wait for a while for the water to boil, but we let's enjoy these cakes for now. I hope you enjoy them." Tea Cake said, sitting across from them as she use her magic to place two plates of vanilla cake in front of them.

Rarity nervously cough into her hoof, noticing Tea Cake's cutie mark. Surprisingly, her cutie mark wasn't too bad at a glance. It looks like a normal cup of tea on a little saucer, but on a closer look, Rarity notice something in that cup of tea was a little white shotgun being used as a spoon.

 _What does it mean?!_ Rarity thought.

"Miss Tea Cake," The white unicorn finally decide to say something as the yellow pegasus eat her cake. "Fluttershy and I were wondering about those..."

"It's the shotguns, isn't it?" Tea Cake said without any shock in her voice, as if this had happened before.

"Yes." Fluttershy quietly admitted.

"I only use them as a last choice if any criminals decided to break in."

"And you've never used them on animals before, right?"

"I've never did." Fluttershy only looks slightly relieved by that.

"But... Have you shot ponies before?" Rarity ask, feeling curious about this unicorn.

"Yes, but if it makes you feel better, I've never killed a pony. If I found an intruder, like a thief, in my home, I would try to stop them and call the police to arrest them, and if it's very necessary, I will shoot them in the leg at least."

"Do you have a lot of intruders come into your home?"

"Not really. After a few attempts on my apartment, most of them seemed to finally understand not to go here. I haven't had one come here for almost a year."

"Then why do you still have them?"

"You may never know what would happen here, and... I like to have them as a reminder."

"A reminder?"

"Yes. A reminder."

"Of what?"

Suddenly, there was the noise of a high-pitched kettle screeching as Tea Cake stood up from her seat and said, "I'll get that."

Once the yellow unicorn left to enter the kitchen, Fluttershy quietly said, "I hope I don't sound rude of saying this, but maybe she does have a problem."

"Yes, but how can we solve this?" Rarity wondered.

* * *

Twilight let out a big yawn, walking towards her room. Floating around her were several notes about some ideas for the protection of the castle, some agreements Time Guard and Twilight made, and a profile about Time Guard, which was given to her during the little meeting after dinner.

Some of the agreements were like waiting for Rarity so the three of them could talk about the armor/uniform, and Time Guard will walk around with Twilight and Pinkie until they finally find and solve this friendship problem, then Time Guard will be put up with night guard duty. That's what the purple unicorn wanted and Twilight didn't found it to be too unreasonable.

Also, Time Guard seemed to be getting along with Spike and Starlight Glimmer, though the purple unicorn didn't really talk a lot during dinner, except for answering a couple of questions here and there. Twilight was shocked to hear that her guard was originally from Ponyville, but she've moved around a lot because of Time Guard's mother getting promotions from her job.

It did made the princess of friendship wonder if her guard did made any friends since Time Guard only mentions her family in her short stories, Twilight can't help but to worry about the new guard and her social life, not just because of her title.

 _Maybe Time Guard is actually involved in this friendship problem. It can't be just a coincidence that Princess Celestia send a guard on the same day as the cutie map showed us where to go._ Twilight thought to herself. _Maybe I should try to ask a few more questions to her during the search tomorrow._

All she has to do is to wait.


	3. Chapter 3

_I swear that we'll never sleep at a cheap hotel ever again._ Rainbow Dash bitterly thought to herself, stretching out her limps as she and Applejack exit out the hotel.

It was rather surreal to see Manehattan with less ponies than usual. Rainbow knows it's 6 o' clock in the morning (which is much more earlier than what she usually wakes up to, but Applejack forced her out of bed), but Manehattan always look like it should be full of ponies 24/7. Still, it's kind of refreshing to see this place like this.

"First, we'll get some breakfast, then we'll look for the friendship problem." Applejack said, looking around the area for a cafe.

"Good idea." Dash yawned, wishing this whole cutie map situation would be over already.

The two finally decided to stop at this somewhat crowded cafe for breakfast, though the farm pony was a bit disappointed in the prices.

"Five bits for a muffin." Applejack grumbled under her breathe, watching her pegasus friend eat one with blueberries.

"Hey, I bet that's a deal here." Rainbow said. "You're just angry that you only got a piece of toast with strawberry jam on it because they ran out of apple jam."

"Which was three bits."

"Lighten up! You were the one who made us go out so early."

"I'm sorry." The orange pony said as her hooves grab the edge of her hat. "It's just that this is the first time that we've to stay overnight for a friendship problem. Are we just doing something wrong?"

"What about our very first mission with the others?"

"We didn't really had a choice in that."

"Anyway, I don't think we should worry about that. Maybe the others are having a hard time on the problem too."

Applejack's green eyes darted towards the front door when she noticed a red pegasus entering the place. Rainbow noticed her too which Apple Spices shouted, "Hey! Where's my order?!"

When the angry-looking server gave the red pegasus her order of baguettes and breakfast sandwiches, Rainbow said, "What are you doing here?"

Spices's eyes widen for a moment when she noticed the two, but said, "Just getting a couple of things for my family. No big deal."

The orange mare look at the red one's teal saddlebags, seeing they were quite stuffed.

 _Never expect her to be the family-caring type. I kind of pictured as sort of a 'bad girl' type._ Applejack thought.

"Anyway, since you're here, I just want to tell you that Music Drop and I were thinking about going on a bit of a vacation." Apple Spices said. "We were kind of inspired by you to go to Canterlot and Ponyville."

"Really?" Rainbow said, as Applejack suddenly felt the cogs in her head turning in her head, eating her toast.

"Yeah. Going to Ponyville first since it's smaller for-" The red pegasus shook her head. "Anyway, I'm going to tell my folks that we're going to be gone for a while. Hey, maybe we can see each other on the train if you already solved that important problem."

As the red pegasus left, Rainbow Dash said to the apple mare, "You were pretty quiet through that. Thought you might say something about the fact they're going to Ponyville first."

"Maybe we should go back." Applejack said.

"What?" Rainbow said, taken back by that.

"We should go back to Ponyville."

"I know what you mean, but why? Why are we suddenly giving up on this?!"

"We're not! I just have an idea. So, come on, let's go."

* * *

In the streets of Canterlot, Rarity can't help but to feel a bit guilty about what happened last night at Tea Cake's home and how she was able to get some personal information on her.

 _But she was willing to talk about it so I shouldn't be feeling that guilty about it. We didn't force out of her._ Rarity thought to herself.

"Maybe we should go back to Ponyville." Fluttershy suddenly said to her.

"What?!" Rarity exclaimed, shocked by what the pegasus just said.

Nearby ponies glanced at them, maybe even glaring, slightly jumpy because Rarity's sudden outburst.

"I don't mean that we give up. I'm trying to say that maybe we should go back to Ponyville so we could check on the map." Fluttershy said. "I would hate to admit it, but we didn't really made any progress here."

Rarity quietly groaned at the idea, but she knows that Fluttershy is absolutely right about this. They haven't solve, or even found a friendship problem even after staying here overnight, but Rarity would hate to just go back home to tell Twilight that they couldn't do anything.

"Fluttershy, you're right." Rarity admitted. "Should we go to the train station right now?"

"Ye- Eep!" The yellow pegasus squeaked when somepony bumped into her.

"I'm so sorry." came from a very familiar voice.

"Miss Tea Cake?" Rarity quietly gasp, a little surprised that they suddenly meet the yellow unicorn again.

"Rarity, Fluttershy, it's nice to see you again." Tea Cake said, adjusting her white saddlebags with her magic.

"Um... Yeah." Fluttershy said quietly.

"I'm sorry to bother you, but I must go to the train station and deliver two of White Jasmine's rare tea boxes to Ponyville. I don't understand why the costumer wants it to be delivered by hoof, but we can't really complain about that right now."

Rarity's ears perked at the familiar name. "Ponyville? You're going to Ponyville?"

"Yes, is it that odd?" Tea ask.

"No, it's just that Fluttershy and I were going back there too."

"Really? Did you find your friendship problem already?"

"...No." Fluttershy hesitated at first. "We were just going back to Ponyville to check if the map changed or something like that."

"Ah." Tea Cake look at the direction of the train station. "Well, I'm still grateful that we could talk more before we part ways."

As the three walk towards the station, Rarity smiled, but thought to herself, _Is this really happening? Could she really be involved in all of this?_

* * *

Back in Ponyville, throughout the search for the friendship problem, Twilight did ask Time Guard about her while Pinkie tried to introduce the new guard to everypony in town. Time was quite obedient, answering all of her questions without much hesitation.

"Did you made any friends when you lived here?"

"No."

"How about those cities you've lived in before?"

"No."

"During training?"

"No."

"How did you get your cutie mark?"

"I've saved a cat from getting hit by a runaway chariot."

"So you have a talent for guarding and protecting everypony?"

"Why else would I have joined the royal guards?"

"Good point."

 _This isn't going anywhere._ Twilight thought, feeling a bit disappointed in herself. _Ugh, how am I even sure that she has a problem? It could be all in my head!_

One of the things she hates about these friendship problems, besides the unhelpful ponies, is that they tend to doubt about them. Some are rather obvious, like Twilight's and Fluttershy's first problem together, and others are rather difficult to find. Sadly, it's the latter for the six of them.

Twilight felt a pat on her back as Pinkie said, "Don't worry, Twilight. I'm sure the friendship problem will ker-blam us between the eyes very soon." How the pink pony still stays positive after all of this is beyond me.

Twilight slightly smiled at the pink pony's words, but she can't help this feeling of Time Guard have to involve in this problem somehow. It's too much of coincidence that she came along on the same day they've gotten the mission from the map, but how is her new guard involved in all of this?

 _Since she've said that she've never really made any friends, even during her training._ Twilight thought, but finally realized something. _Of course! If we got Time Guard to make some friends, then we might be able to solve this friendship problem. And one of the greatest places to make friends is at a party._

"Pinkie, we've never really had a party for Time Guard, did we?" Twilight whisper to the pink pony.

The pink pony let out a loud gasp. Jumping into the air, and said, "What kind of party planner am I?! I got to go!"

With that, Pinkie Pie disappeared, leaving behind the two purple ponies.

"Should I be worry about that?" Time Guard ask.

"What? Of course not." Twilight said, waving her hoof at her. "Anyway, we should continue on that search."

The guard nodded, following behind the purple princess.


	4. Chapter 4

"I'm pretty sure that they'll be suspicious, especially since we're going to Ponyville too." Rainbow Dash said to Applejack as the two wait for the train to Ponyville to come. "I mean, of all ponies, I wouldn't really imagine you would trust something like this."

"What else can we do since we've tried to search everywhere in Manehattan for a friendship problem? The least we could do is to go through with it." Applejack said.

"I guess you're kinda right."

 _Though it might be a bit of a stretch._ Rainbow thought, staring at the train tracks.

"Whoa, what are you guys doing here?" Soon, the colors red and blue came into their sights.

"Oh, hey, you two," Applejack said, waving at them.

"Again. What are you doing here? I mean, I did told you that we're going to Ponyville and Canterlot." Apple Spices said, looking a bit suspicious at them.

"Told you." Rainbow whispered to the apple mare.

"Well, we're just going to Ponyville." Applejack said.

"So, why are you going to Ponyville?" Spices ask with narrowed eyes. "I'm not really sure if I believe you guys already solve that friendship problem you've complained about before."

"I don't think they're just going there because you said we're going there." Music Drop said, not liking her friend's tone towards them "Right?"

"Yeah, we're going back because we have to check the map. I'm pretty sure there's something wrong with it since we still haven't find those ponies." Rainbow Dash half-lied. While that's not the actual reason why they're going back to Ponyville, the pegasus felt like they should check the map again to double check, like maybe the friendship problem suddenly moves somewhere else just to be a jerk to them.

"Okay, I guess I kind of believe you." Spices said, though she didn't lightened up on her narrowed eyes.

"Hey, why don't you get our tickets?" Music Drop said, gently pushing the red pegasus towards the ticket booths. Once she's out of hearing range, the blue earth pony said to the two, "Sorry about her. Though I guess it was kind of a coincidence we're all going to Ponyville."

"So, why Ponyville? Canterlot is closer to Manehatten compared to Ponyville." Applejack ask, remembering the train's path.

Music glance her eyes at the ground. "Well, it's just that we want to experience what a small town is like. I know that most ponies would go to Canterlot first, but hey, what are you gonna do when you spent your life in the city?"

"I still find it a little weird, but I guess I sort of understand." Rainbow Dash said with a shrug as Applejack nods slightly.

* * *

It was quite quiet between the three before and after they got on the train. It was sort of understandable since they did spent a rather awkward night at Tea Cake's apartment, but that was already in the past, so why continue on the silence?

"Tea Cake, I still feel sorry about what happened last night." Fluttershy finally spoke up.

The yellow unicorn, who was looking through the window, now looked at the yellow pegasus with shock and said, "Why? You didn't do anything wrong."

"I guess I was worried since we did got some personal information from you." Fluttershy said, looking down a bit.

It's alright. Truth be told, I was a little worried that you would think of me any differently since you discovered my little 'secret'." Tea Cake said.

"Well, it is a bit... 'frightening' when we first saw them, but you should understand that we thought you've used them on animals and Fluttershy here have a special talent with taking care of those little critters." Rarity tried to explain.

"So, was it frightening that I was willing to use them on ponies?"

"...It was shocking when we learned about that, but we knew that you didn't kill anypony and you did had your reasons for it." Fluttershy mentioned. "I mean, it would be surprising that a pony as nice as you would be brave enough to... shoot a pony."

"I understand."

"And you're from Canterlot. No offense to any pony from Canterlot, especially since one of my best friends is from there, but many ponies from there tend to care a lot about their standing in the society, so to hear a local is willing to do such a thing..." Rarity seemed to try to stop herself, but continued on, "Is a bit brutish, if that's the right word for this."

"My 'standing' wasn't that important to me or my family. We just try to have a normal life, even though I'll admit that we're quite wealthy compared to an average pony, and we had average friends. Though ever since my parents are gone, I find myself being used to being alone most of the time. I still have friends visiting once in a while."

There was another silent moment for Fluttershy and Rarity once they've realized what Tea Cake said about her parents.

 _Why must you say these things so causally?_ Rarity thought, feeling a bit nervous all of a sudden.

No pony spoke to each other for a while, waiting for the train conductor to call out they're in Ponyville. Rarity's eyes find themselves wandering around to look for something interesting besides the moving scenery from the window until she noticed two familiar looking ponies. One orange and one light blue who sat with two unfamiliar ponies who are blue and red. The four of them sat on the far opposite side from them, which sort of explains why she haven't notice them sooner.

"Applejack? Rainbow Dash?" Rarity can't help to say since she've never expect seeing them on the same train as them.

Upon hearing their names, the orange earth pony and the blue pegasus turn towards her and were just as shock to see their friends here.

Fluttershy was also just as shock as her three friends, but she can't help but to feel curious on why Tea Cake looks shock and almost terrified at the two unknown ponies, who gave her similar looks too.

* * *

"Twilight, do you think we could take a break?" Time Guard can't help but to notice the princess of friendship started to look frustrated as they continue on looking for the friendship problem.

The purple alicorn sighed and said, "Okay." Twilight sat on a nearby bench as the purple unicorn stood by her.

"You can sit next to me." Twilight said.

"Are you sure?" Time ask, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course. I know you're my guard and you're suppose to defend me, but I'm a normal pony just like you and me. I'm only royalty because I finished a spell." Twilight gave her a somewhat nervous smile.

Still, Time Guard sat next to her.

 _When is Pinkie done with that party? I feel like she should be done by now._ Twilight thought to herself.

"Twilight, do you expect me to be involve with this problem you keep looking for?" Time Guard suddenly ask.

The purple alicorn quietly gulped and said, "Why would you think that?"

"The questions about me."

 _I should had known she would be suspicious._ Twilight thought.

"Okay, maybe I was thinking about something along those lines." Twilight admitted. "I mean, it is too big of coincidence that you came along when the cutie map told us to go on a friendship mission, so I thought..."

"I understand." Time said, slightly nodding her head. "I do admit that I wasn't that great at making friends before, during, and after I had the training to be a royal guard, so maybe there is a chance that Princess Celestia might had noticed my behavior during the training at Canterlot Castle and probably sent me here because you could influence me into making some friends."

 _...I hate it when there's more than one explanation like this._ Twilight thought somewhat bitterly.

"So why did you decide to become a royal guard? Okay, it's kind of obvious with your cutie mark, but you could had became a body guard instead."

"No offense since your brother is part of the royal guard, but I've noticed the guards are rather... incompetent, if I have to put it lightly. Yes, I understand there are situations the guards couldn't handle, like Tirek or Discord, but I felt like they could had at least stopped Chrysalis from capturing all of the princesses if they trained a bit more."

Twilight lowered her gaze. "They kind of surprised us, but-"

"I know about Starlight Glimmer and her friends' accomplishment, but we know there's a chance they would had failed."

Twilight would hate herself for doubting Starlight, but she kinda agrees. There could had been a chance that the changelings wouldn't had listen to Starlight, or Chrysalis could had been able to suck away Thorax's love away before he transformed, or maybe Thorax wouldn't had transformed at all, and there's many of other opportunities for something wrong to happen.

"I know this sounds a little pretentious, but I thought that if I join the royal guards, maybe I could be a sort of example of what royal guard could act like. I don't mean that I should have an award saying that I'm better than every pony else. It's more like if some guards are seeing how this mare is working so hard to become one, maybe they'll work a little harder."

The purple princess admits that Time Guard does sound a bit pretentious, but at the same time, Twilight felt like she's lying about her intentions. She wasn't too sure, but maybe it's the way how prepared Time's reasoning for being a guard is or it's the fact that Twilight can't really picture Time Guard as a 'pretentious' pony.

"Do you want to continue the search or go back to the castle?" Time Guard suddenly ask.

At the mention of the castle, Twilight was reminded of the party Pinkie was preparing for her new guard.

"Let's go to the castle." Twilight causally said, getting off the bench.

With a small nod, Time follows her as Twilights looks back at her with a small smile.


	5. Chapter 5

"Applejack? Rainbow Dash?" Of course hearing their names from a familiar voice would be shocking if they never expect them to be in the same area.

"Um... Wait here." Rainbow Dash whispered to Music Drop and Apple Spices, quickly leaving the two behind before they could speak a word. Not like they had anything to talk about.

Meeting at the middle of the train cart, Applejack said, "What in tarnation are you two doing here?"

"We should ask you the same thing." Rarity said.

"We're going back to Ponyville to check on the map and sort of stalking those two." Rainbow Dash said, throwing her hoof back to those two red and blue ponies.

"So are we, except for the stalking part."

"We're not stalking them. It's just too big of a coincidence that they want to go to Canterlot and Ponyville, and they're from Manehatten." Applejack try to explain.

"You do have to admit that's a pretty big hunch to go on."

"What else are we suppose to go on when we try to search through that entire city?"

"So did Fluttershy and I with Canterlot, but you don't see us accusing Tea Cake involved in all of this."

"Tea Cake?" Rainbow Dash said, raising an eyebrow.

"She's this nice unicorn we've met in Canterlot and she's delivering some rare teas to some pony in Ponyville."

They follow Rarity's gaze towards the yellow unicorn, who seemed to be staring at something in disbelief.

"What is she looking at?" Rainbow Dash wondered.

"Do you think they know each other?" Fluttershy finally decide to speck out.

There was a collective amount of "Huh?", realizing what the yellow pegasus had said.

"What are you talking about?" Applejack asked, looking back and forth between the three.

"It's just the way they look at each other." Fluttershy said. "They must had met each other before."

Looking back at the three, Fluttershy was right. The way those ponies look at each other was almost like they've seen a ghost.

"She's right." Rarity let out a quiet gasp. "This must be the friendship problem. Maybe we're suppose to reunite them as friends."

"Well I be... If that's the case, then this must be one amazing case of destiny I've ever seen." Applejack said.

"So, what are we suppose to do now?" Rainbow Dash said.

* * *

Fluttershy wasn't too sure about how this plan will work out. Just forcing these three ponies to interacting with each other after who knows how long they've met each other doesn't seem to be a good idea, but Rarity reasoned that if they don't talk any sooner, then just waiting for them to make a move will take forever. While Fluttershy sort of understands her reasoning, maybe they should had give them a little more time to think about what's going on than just pushing them onto the same bench as the four of them watches the three from some benches next to them.

"Should we do something else?" Rainbow Dash whispered. "They're just staring at each other, awkwardly."

"I knew that this wasn't a good idea." Fluttershy quietly said. "No offense."

"It'll work. We gave them a little push and they can't stay silent forever." Rarity said, determined that this will work.

Finally, Tea Cake decided to break the silence, "It's good to see you again."

"Yeah... It's been practically a lifetime since we last saw you." Music Drop said, giving her a nervous smile while giving such an emphasis on 'lifetime'.

Apple Spices just continues to eat the snacks from whatever food cart passes by them.

"It's not working." Applejack practically hissed under her breath.

"It will!" Rarity loudly whispered to her.

"Let's admit it. We've never thought that we would see each other again." Spices said between bites from her snacks.

There was a moment of silence between the two as the red pegasus continued on, "I mean after what happened to us, there was probably a slim chance to see each other again, but hey, I was able to meet Music Drop over here, so maybe we had to meet again in the future."

"So, does that mean we have to meet _her_ again?" Music said, emphasizing 'her' almost... bitterly? Sadly?

 _Playing the adjective game?_ Rarity thought, wondering if they're doing that on purpose.

"She wasn't that awful." The yellow unicorn said.

"I wasn't applying she was. I mean... We didn't really understand what she was going through since she've never really told us."

"Isn't that because you were suspicious of her?" Spices said, raising an eyebrow.

"You were too!"

"Well, actually, sometimes I did help her out."

"Truth be told, we all were suspicious of her at one point, believing that she was either friend or foe, mostly foe, but we're not completely out of the blame here since we did hurt each other one way or another." Tea Cake gave the red pegasus a look that was mixed with pain and regret, which Apple Spices gave back a guilty look to her.

Music Drop quietly sighs and says with a bit of a small smile, "Hey, while we're here, how about we talk about what we've been doing with our lives?"

With a round of agreements between the three, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy found themselves smiling, glad that these ponies seemed to finally made up for whatever problems they're having.

* * *

Colorful confetti shoot up and then rain down from the sky once Time Guard enter the castle as ponies who were hiding came out and yelled out, "Surprise!"

A large banner hang from the railings that says, "Welcome!" in big, colorful words.

The purple unicorn soon find herself face to face with a certain pink pony practically speaking at the speed of light.

"Oh my gosh, Time Guard, I'm sorry for not getting this party ready sooner. Usually I celebrate the arrival of a pony on the day they're here, not the day after they've arrived. How could I forget such a thing?! I guess it was because of the cutie map problem and all of this drama I've been reading, but that does not excuse me for completely forgetting to have a big welcome party for you. Maybe we should have another one since you've became a guard for my friend Twilight. Maybe another one because you're Twilight's first guard ever-!"

"It's fine." Time Guard interrupted. "Let's enjoy this party for now."

"Good idea." Pinkie said with a nod, then happily hop away with Time Guard following behind her.

Twilight let out a small sigh, a bit relief to relax a little more, but first, she feels like she should check on the cutie map for some reason.

Passing by the chatting ponies to get the map room,Twilight noticed something off with the map. Getting closer and closer to it, she realizes what it was.

She felt her jaw drop at the cutie marks floating above the map. Four of her friends' cutie marks were now floating together instead of two groups of two like before. They weren't even in Manehatten or Canterlot like before. Instead of that, this cluster of cutie marks were heading towards Ponyville.

 _What could this mean? What could this mean?_ Twilight panicked in her head. _Did the cutie map just change their targets? Or are their ponies just moving somewhere else all of a sudden? What should I do?!_

"Twi-" Time Guard almost jumped when the princess of friendship suddenly teleported out of her sights. Looking around the area, Time said, "Twilight?"

But she was nowhere in her sights.


	6. Chapter 6

It's kind of weird on how these turn of events came out. Music Drop was just surprised that after all of this time, they seemed to be getting along just fine.

 _I'm just wondering if it's just as easy for her to forgive us as we've forgiven each other._ The blue earth pony wondered to herself.

"How do you think she's doing right now?" Apple Spices said.

"Considering Ponyville is the home of Princess Twilight..." Tea Cake quietly said.

"What? Do you think she's spending her time stalking princesses or something?"

"...No. I just thought maybe she became a guard for her. Why would you think that?"

"Well, I didn't really know much about her, but I think she has a thing for _her_."

 _Who is this other_ other _pony?!_ Rarity thought, feeling a bit frustrated with how these three are trying their best to hide whoever this other _other_ pony.

"I mean, the reason why all of this happened is because she really wanted to protect her from her fate, but we know the result of that." Spices continued.

Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity felt even more curious about this situation they're in, continuing to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"So you're trying to say that she've become a guard to sort of make up with what she've done in the past?" Music Drop said.

"Can you image her doing something else?" Apple Spices said.

"There was a time where she was pretty shy."

"I can kind of image her as a magic teacher." Tea Cake said, looking at the ceiling for a moment.

"We won't know until we get to Ponyville." Music Drop said, glancing at the window.

Ponies felt the trains come to a stop, signaling a few of them it's time to get off, but there was a sudden announcement from the conductor, "I'm sorry, everypony, but there seems to be a bit of a commotion going on at the station. Please stay here until we solve this."

Ponies were doing what they're told. Though they did murmur among themselves, worried about what's going on.

"What's going on?" Fluttershy ask, worried that something's bad is going on.

"Let's find out." Applejack said, getting out of her seat.

Ignoring the conductor's warning about getting off the train, the group of seven ponies arrive at the train station and were shocked at what they're seeing.

Twilight Sparkle was panicking, trying to stop ponies exiting the station until they answered this question: "Did you just came from either Canterlot or Manehatten?"

For any pony who said yes to that question, they were forced to stay at the station until further notice.

"Twilight, what are you doing?!" Rainbow shouted, face to face with the purple princess.

"Rainbow Dash?!" Twilight shouted in shock, noticing her friends are here.

"What are you doing to these ponies?" Rarity ask.

"I'm sorry, everypony, but I saw your cutie marks on the friendship map going to Ponyville, and so, I panicked and try to stop everypony from Canterlot or Manehetten from entering Ponyville until I'm able to contact you."

"Twi, I don't think you need to do that," Applejack said with a small smile. "Because we've already found them. I think."

Fluttershy pointed towards the three ponies they're with as Twilight seemed to calm down. She let out a nervous chuckle and said, "I'm sorry, everypony. Proceed with what you're doing."

The ponies, who were held captive here, were finally able to walk off the station with a few of them sending small, dirty looks towards the purple alicorn.

"Twilight, did you find the pony involved in all of this?" Fluttershy ask the princess.

"Yeah, I think so." Twilight said, trying to avoid the looks of the glaring ponies. "I think it's my new guard."

Apple Spices, Music Drop, and Tea Cake have this nervous look on their face once they've heard that.

"We have to go back to the castle if you want to meet her." Twilight said.

"Twilight, why are you here? I think it's best that we-" The alicorn turn towards her guard, but she definitely notice something off about her guard. The calm demeanor that seemed to be permanently marked on her face have replaced to a shocked – almost horrified – look now.

"Time Guard, do you know these three-?" Twilight almost jumped when the purple unicorn teleported out of here in a similarly colored flash of magic.

"What's the story between you guys?" Rainbow Dash finally decide to ask the question on their mind.

"It's... complicated." Tea Cake quietly, looking down at the ground.

There was an odd sense of dread from the three.

* * *

"Hey, Timey, did you found Twilight yet?" Pinkie ask, entering Time Guard's room.

Standing in front of the empty wall was Time Guard staring blankly at it. Upon hearing the pink pony's voice, the purple unicorn said, "She's at the train station." She was kind of hoping that Pinkie would just go to the train station to look for the princess or just continue on partying, but the pink pony continued to speak, "Hey, what are doing here? Don't you want to go back to the party?"

"Not right now. I'm not... feeling well." Time said.

"What's the matter?" Pinkie wondered, hopping towards her.

Time shook her head. _She sounds worried._

"Nothing. Just leave me alone for now and I'll come back to the party later." Time Guard said.

Pinkie was surprisingly quiet for a moment until she said, "Oh, well, I hope you get better soon."

Once she left, Time Guard was now alone with her thoughts.

Time Guard kind of knew that there was a possibility that she might meet up with those three someday, but now, she felt like that time is coming up too soon than it should. At the same time, the purple unicorn can't avoid this forever. She have to meet up with them no matter how much she tries to avoid this meeting.

Guard tightly close her eyes, remembering the faces of those three. They look almost exactly like the way they were before, except maybe... a bit more softer in expression. They didn't look angry at her. They looked shock and maybe uncertain too, as if they weren't sure about going through all of this either.

She let out a calming sigh, trying to think this throughly. She's the first guard of Princess Twilight Sparkle, but the way she've acted in front of her. Just for a few moments, she've shown fear just because she was afraid of meeting some ponies from her past when she gave herself a duty to protect no matter who it is. Time Guard knows that the princess attempted to be friendly, but that's because that's probably how the princess wants to her guards to act. If she was assigned to the other princesses, Time Guard would had probably still act as professional as she was during the training unless the other princesses decided to try to become friends with her for some reason. Time Guard actually did want to be friends with the princess of friendship, but at the same time, she felt like she should keep a distance away from her but to protect her at the same time.

The unicorn suddenly shook her head. _Should I really be treating her like I did with..._ her? _It won't be exactly the same since they're two completely different entities, but I still feel like I should have a sense of duty. There is a real reason why I'm in the royal guards._

"I can't dismiss this any longer." Time Guard said to herself, knowing she have to stop bubbling up this pressure on her.


	7. Chapter 7

"Time Guard..." Music Drop quietly said to herself, as if she's trying to test out the name on her lips.

"Please, you must tell us what caused you to be so... awkward towards each other, even if it's complicated to explain." Rarity ask.

"I'm sorry, but I have to deliver the tea boxes." Tea Cake said, running off.

"Darn, she actually has an excuse." Apple Spices said under her breathe. She use one of her front hooves to massage her forehead. "Look, even if we tell you, you wouldn't understand- Heck, you wouldn't even believe us!"

"How hard is it to understand all of this? A few moments ago, you were getting along as if nothing bad happened between you three until the fourth one comes along. Did she do something so awful that it caused all four of you to act like this?" Applejack ask, looking back at the spot the purple unicorn was before.

"Yes and no." Music Drop hesitated. "What she'd done wasn't _that_ awful. It's just that she've done all of that because of a friend."

"Don't tell me _another_ pony is involved in all of this!" Rainbow frustratedly shouted, throwing her front hooves in the air. "Okay, where is the fifth one?!"

"Oh, you don't really need to worry about that. She's gone." Spices said so causally.

There was a moment of silence between the group. Jaws were dropped and some of them turned a few shades pale, maybe even looking a little faint just from the fact they've learned.

"Spice, don't say that so causally." Music quietly hissed to her with narrowed eyes.

"I'm sorry..." Spices realized. "I've never really known her that well, but I knew that you've known her for a long time."

"O-Oh my," Fluttershy quietly said.

"I-I'm sorry for mentioning it." Rainbow said, taking a few steps back.

"Why should you be sorry? You didn't know she even existed until now." Spices said.

Twilight quickly shook her her head away from the shock and said, "Everypony, we need to focus. We'll never fix whatever this problem if we don't know what it is."

Music Drop tapped her chin, thinking until she said, "We might tell you what it is unless we have a private conversation about it."

"Why?" Rarity ask.

"I know you're trying to help us, but I think it's best that the four of us discuss about this first." Music said.

"We understand." Twilight said with a nod. "We just need to find Time Guard and that yellow unicorn."

* * *

 _'Spoiled Rich' really suits her._ Tea Cake thought somewhat bitterly about that customer she've met, as she head back to the train station but suddenly stopped in place.

She knows she'd done her job and she have to return back to the store to report back to the owner. She can't leave the store owner alone. Then again... the tea shop isn't the most popular store in Canterlot and there's still that one extra employee, so White Jasmine can live without her for now. Yet at the same time, Tea Cake almost felt like she should just return back and just pretend that this day didn't involve ponies she've thought she'll never see again, but would that be the right option?

Music Drop was always a good pony to her. Apple Spices and her didn't have the best past together and their friendship ended in such a disaster, but now Spices seemed to regretted it or at least pretended it didn't happen, and she's acting pretty friendly to her. As for Time Guard... there was a time where she liked her and probably admired her at one point, but slowly she focus more and more on _her_. Unlike before, where she thought it was because of _her_ potential is why Time was so focused on, now Tea Cake understands why Time did all the things she'd done and how she wasn't successful in reaching that goal.

It wouldn't be fair to just leave all of this behind because she was afraid to be reminded of the past where all four of them could never take back the things they had done. This was a chance to say sorry to each other, though just saying sorry won't just fix everything they've been though.

Still, Tea Cake feels like she have to go through this, or nothing will be any better for her upon the fact that she knows that her friends are here and she didn't do anything about it.

"Whoa, Cake, have you been standing here this entire time?" Spices's voice brought her back to reality as a pair of yellow eyes find themselves staring back at a set of red ones.

"Sorry, I've been thinking." The yellow unicorn said, taking a step back.

"Well, you can think once we go to the Princess's castle. We're going to have a talk with..." Apple Spices paused as if she's trying to get used to the strange name. "...Time Guard."

Tea Cake softly smiled with confidence, following the red pegasus.

* * *

"Pinkie, take this party outside." Twilight said once she enter her castle.

"I know today's nice out and an outdoors party isn't a bad idea, but why?" The pink pony ask.

"We need a private place for our clients to have their conversation at, and do you know where Time Guard is?"

"I'm pretty sure she's still in her room. She seemed to be kind of gloomy today."

"Okay, I'll get Time Guard. You need to get everypony else out of here. Right now!"

"Okie-dokie-lokie!"

As Pinkie hop away, trying to gather the ponies, Twilight let out a small sigh, praying that this will somehow work out in the end.

 _Please, please, please! Let this work out!_ Twilight thought to herself out of stress.


	8. Chapter 8

Ponies exit out the castle, clearly disappointed in how the party ended early. Twilight notice Time Guard herself standing in front of the door tot he friendship map until her guarding eyes reach up to the princess', softening just a little.

"Twilight, I'm sorry for my behavior. I was... surprised." Time Guard said, a little uncertain.

Twilight take in a deep breath and said, "You know what I want you to do, don't you?"

Time nodded, then hesitated to look back at the three ponies approaching them. "May we talk into the throne room. Alone."

"Of course."

If there were any ponies from the party were just lingering around, then now they were completely thrown out. Any doors that lead to the cutie map were completely closed and throughly locked, including the windows.

"Okay, this is a 'little' extreme." Rainbow Dash said as Twilight lock the front door. "I know they want a private talk with each other, but unless they killed some pony in the past, I don't think they need this much privacy to talk to each other."

"I know, but they requested that no pony would try to listen to their conversation and I want to respect their wishes. Besides, I don't think the cutie map would let us let a bunch of murders go."

"You have to realize that you're locking yourself out of your own castle." Applejack said.

"And it won't last forever. They said to come back in a hour or so." Twilight said with a bit of confidence. "That's more than enough time and we'll know when they're friends again once our cutie marks starts glowing."

"Well, if talking to each other solves all of this, then it shouldn't be much of a problem." Rarity said.

"I feel like we're trusting them a bit too much." Rainbow Dash whispered under her breath.

"So, do we stay here and wait? Or can we walk around for a while?" Fluttershy ask.

"Of course! See you girls later." Twilight let out a long sigh. "I think I need to take a trip to the spa because of this mission."

"Oooo... Let me come with you, darling. I would love to have something to relieve my stress." Rarity walk beside the princess, going to the direction of the spa.

"I have to deliver a letter for Tea Cake." There was an envelope in her yellow hooves as Fluttershy look towards the post office. "She even gave me some bits for a fast delivery."

Applejack and Rainbow Dash nearly jumped when Pinkie Pie finally spoke out, "I'll be going to Sugarcube Corner."

Prancing away from the two, the pink pony said in a more singsong way, "Don't try to break in and spy on them~."

With that, a pair of green eyes slowly glared at a pair of pink eyes.

Rainbow hold up her front hooves in defense. "Okay, I know what you're going to say, but with how secretive they are, I can't help feeling curious."

"I understand the feeling, but we need to leave them alone for now." Applejack said, feeling like she has to keep an eye on the blue pony now.

* * *

They were alone. That's quite obvious with how throughly the princess was with locking everyone out. Time Guard was glad that the princess have that much trust in her, though maybe she was a little too trusting for Time's liking, but it would be too troubling to explain what's going on, especially with how... unbelievable it is.

The four of them sat at the thrones with the glowing map, covered with leftover snacks and drinks from the party because of Pinkie Pie (which Apple Spices is very grateful for).

They were actually quite quiet for a while until the red pegasus finally decided to speak up.

"So, Homura, you actually ran away from us. You were _that_ afraid of us?" The unicorn almost forget to breathe for a moment there, though there was a part of her that missed hearing her real name.

Homura tried to stay stoic. "I was shocked. We've never thought we would meet each other again. Though, technically, we're meeting each other for the first time."

What she says is true. If you were able to look through their entire lives as ponies, you would find out that they've never actually met each other face to face until now. The only reason why they even know about each other would be because of their true memories together. Without those memories, you would just think they were just complete strangers.

"Well, it's just... you actually looked afraid of us. You didn't want to see us, Homura?" Sayaka asked, sounding a little hurt. "I know we didn't have the... best history together, but..."

"Do you really forgive me that easily? After all I've done and said to you?" The purple unicorn looked away from the three.

"We know you did it for Madoka."

"Yes. Just Madoka. I wasn't very forgiving towards any of you even when I knew your fates."

"Ugh... Do you want us to do? We didn't remember everything until Madoka... ya know?" Kyoko tried to be a little more sensitive towards Homura, but it didn't really work to much effect.

"But I remembered everything. Every action I've done, every reaction, I could had tried to give you some kind of happy ending-"

"But you couldn't" Mami interrupted, using her magic to swish around her cup of fruit punch. "You couldn't save me, Sayaka, Kyoko, or Madoka."

Homura's eyes widen, but her face continued to look away.

"That was pretty harsh, Mami." Sayaka said as Kyoko looked pretty shock at Mami.

"Then what are we going to do? All we can do is live on." Mami looked down at the map where the floating cutie marks and slightly smiled. "Maybe this is fate's way of saying that we shouldn't stay away from each other, that we shouldn't just forget each other even after all of the things that happened to us." Mami looks at the purple unicorn. "Homura, you've seen plenty of horrors during your time back in our original universe. You've seen us die. You've seen us turn into Witches. You've killed us. There are probably many more horrible things that happened during all those times you were by yourself, but now, we don't need to worry about that. While some parts of our past seemed to continued on here," Mami paused for a moment to thing, but then continued on speaking. "I believe we don't have to worry about Witches, magical girls, or Kyubey for the rest of out lives here. We can just live here. It's probably what Madoka wants."

Everyone was quiet, taking in what she've said, but that moment of silence was broken when Homura surprisingly let out a small chuckle.

"Homura?" Sayaka said, slight worried.

"You know, when I regain my memories about the past, I begin to dream about it." Before anyone said anything else, Homura quickly added, "It was an absurd version of the past."

The answer for that was "Huh?"

"Think of it like a gag manga. Mami kept dying, Sayaka kept becoming a magical girl or a Witch or even both, Kyoko was obsessed with eating, Kyubey was basically a blob, Madoka kept forgetting my name, I was very obsessed with her, etc."

"And what does that have to do with anything of this?" Kyoko ask, raising an eyebrow.

"I think she's trying to... lighten up?" Sayaka guessed, shrugging her shoulders.

Mami lightly chuckled and said, "Really?"

"Yeah, apparently I've been through so many timelines that everything just went crazy. There was a timeline where Mami is the queen of the world, a timeline where we're a space crew, somehow I brought a dog with me, there's apparently a resting spot for Homuras between the timelines where I met several Homuras including a 25-year-old looking Homura who asked me to bring some supplies-"

"Okay, were you dreaming or high?!" Kyoko shouted.

"Oh come on, it sounds pretty funny." Sayaka slightly smiled at how absurd it sounds for Homura to have these kinds of dreams. "So, what was that about Mami being queen of the world?"

"Well, she made everyone have her curly pigtails." Homura said, trying to recall the dream. "I think there was a Ma-doe-ka too, or maybe that was a different timeline dream."

"Now I'm convince you were high!" Kyoko exclaim, but there was a smirk to her look as the other two chuckled at the bad pun.

Homura slightly smiled, but at the same time, she felt like there was something missing.

* * *

AN: Finally! Got another chapter written, and I'm hoping there aren't many spelling mistakes after how many times I've looked through it because I wasn't too certain how to end this chapter until I've discovered 'Puella Magi Homura Tamura ~Parallel Worlds Do Not Remain Parallel Forever~', which is basically a parody of PMMM. The reason for the reference was that I wanted to end this chapter on a little more lighthearted note for now. Hope you enjoyed it.


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